The Lone Cherry Blossom At Mt. Fuji

A view of Mt. Fuji from Chureito Pagoda in Fujigoko.

  Prior to August 2009 when I arrived in Yokosuka, Japan, to serve my three years here with the U.S. Navy, I had not been much of a world traveler or travel blogger. A few months before that August, I got my international feet wet by taking a cruise to the Bahamas and then flying to Frankfurt, Germany; and then taking trains to Bruges, Belgium and Paris, France. In those days, I was still buying Lonely Planet, Frommers, Fodors and Rick Steves' guidebooks to tell me what I should be seeing, where I should be eating and sleeping, and how to get around. Of course, I ... [Read More]

Missing Peaches in Georgia

Playing golf along with Richard Kind at Sherwood

I don’t watch much televised golf. If I am going to take four hours away from my family, I’d better be the one playing, not spending my day rooting for a player I had never heard of, just because I can pronounce his name. This year, a guy named Bubba won the Masters, much to my delight, since the runner up was something like “Oozeelederhosen.” There’s just something alluring about the Masters. I’m not sure whether it’s the pristine and historic golf course they refer to every five seconds, or the half dozen regally sounding British announcers making it seem like you are on a museum tour ... [Read More]

Spandex Saturday

When it comes to a place as unique as Phoenix, it's no surprise that people either love it or loathe it. “It’s 120 degrees! You can fry an egg on the sidewalk! There are rattlesnakes everywhere! It's flat and brown!" Perhaps you've heard some of these common misconceptions spewed out by those who have a construed aversion to the Sonoran Desert and its climate. They have undertaken the responsibility of "warning" everyone they come across about how unbearable Phoenix is. Ironically, some of these people have never even set foot in Arizona. Others have simply watched too many reality TV shows and fear they'll uncover a ... [Read More]

Couch Surfed Lately?

One of the few pleasures of airplane travel for me is that I get to catch up with my issues of The New Yorker. Thus it happened that, during my round trip to Toledo earlier this week, I discovered the travel phenomenon of couch surfing ... or staying at strangers' places while on the road ... via Patricia Marx's typically funny and informative account. Happily, this is one of those pieces that The New Yorker has made available to all of us for free ... much like a couch surfing host. Have any OnSITE readers couch surfed the world successfully, or hosted said surfers? [Read More]

GOOD DAY FOR A HANGING

  Sue and I were back in Boise, ID over Easter weekend for the last lacrosse tourney of the season. Given the continued value implosion in the residential real estate market and the amount of time I am spending here to watch young women beat each other with sticks, I think I will just buy a condo off of Main Street, buy season tickets to the Idaho Stampede and live here until Kenna graduates from Whitman College next spring and puts away her mouth guard for the last time. It has to be a better value than blowing through my Hilton Honors points and my Alaska ... [Read More]

Sinking of the Concordia

It's a long horrifying story of the traumatic impact; people, objects, furnishings flying; the confusion, loss of power, the earpiercing sirens causing babies and children to scream from fright and pain; generations of families vacationing, pregnant women holding dear to their unborns, while the crew held back stampeding humans desperate to get on lifeboats, all competing in volume to be heard. Only 50% of the lifeboats were available, shifting all the weight to the evacuating side with dangling lifeboats filled to capacity and slowing the evacuation. Hysteria became less contained. It was a major scene from a disaster movie. The shore of the tiny island littered with ... [Read More]

Grab your balls!

With a snowstorm quickly approaching Colorado, I packed a bag (ok, four bags) and hopped in a rental headed south towards the sunshine with my little pup by my side. My destination was the year-old MLB Spring Training facility, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, AZ. This 2011 MLB "Ballpark of the Year" (according to Ballpark Digest) is the first to be built on Native American Land and the first to win a LEED Gold Certificate -- color me impressed. I had two goals –- to get my jersey signed by Colorado's star outfielder “CarGo,” and a baseball signed by “Tulo” (as ... [Read More]

Disneyfication

  March means a lot to sports fans in America. For many it’s the madness of the NCAA tournament as their favorite college basketball teams battle for glory. For others it’s the beginning of the NFL free agent signing period. To those of us devoted to America’s pastime, it means baseball is back. Our long winter of discontent is finally over! In the timeless classic Field of Dreams (at least classic to those of us who understand that “can of corn” really is a sports term, “chin music” is not a calming lullaby and a steal shouldn’t always warrant an arrest), James Earl Jones’ character said America has ... [Read More]

Spring Fake

I just finished working in Denver, a place where I really seem to connect with the audience. Only bummer was, it was tough to pull large numbers, since apparently a lot of people were away on spring break, where wet tee shirts and shots of Jager take precedence over a night of laughs, although I certainly have had a few chuckles when I watch a drunk spring breaker take a face plant on the boardwalk. To me, there is not much organic fun going on at the springtime destinations. Yes, there is a lot of “woo!!” yelling, but it seems like this is to signify you ... [Read More]